Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Invests $27.86 Million in Novartis AG $NVS

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 182,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,855,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Novartis by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 537,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,935,000 after acquiring an additional 82,226 shares during the last quarter. BXM Wealth LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 726.9% in the fourth quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 42,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,903,000 after purchasing an additional 37,639 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in Novartis by 2,561.0% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 38,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,375,000 after purchasing an additional 37,518 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 113,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,681,000 after purchasing an additional 14,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 401.0% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 54,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,547,000 after purchasing an additional 43,814 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Down 0.4%

NVS stock traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $154.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,165,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,955. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $150.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.77 EPS for the current year.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.